Iowans deliver petition urging Gov. Reynolds to accept summer federal food aid

More than 3,500 Iowans have signed a petition urging Gov. Kim Reynolds to direct state agencies to submit paperwork required to participate next year in a federal food assistance program for low-income children.

Reynolds last year declined $29 million in federal funding to provide $40 per month, per child, to low-income families to help with food costs this summer while school is out. The governor opted instead for a state-funded program that state officials said would provide better nutrition and avoid spending $2.2 million a year on administrative costs. Iowa is one of 13 states that chose not to participate in the Summer EBT program.

“Federal COVID-era cash benefit programs are not sustainable and don't provide long-term solutions for the issues impacting children and families,” Reynolds said in a news release announcing Iowa would not participate this summer in the federal program. “An EBT card does nothing to promote nutrition at a time when childhood obesity has become an epidemic.”

The governor instead allocated $900,000 of federal pandemic relief funding to create 61 new free summer meal sites for Iowa children in low-income families. The 61 new sites add to the more than 500 summer meal sites that operated in Iowa last year, according to the Iowa Department of Education.

The petition calls on Reynolds to direct the Iowa Department of Education and the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services to submit an interim plan to the U.S. Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service by an Aug. 15 deadline.

“Governor Reynolds has invested in two state-run summer feeding programs that serve food-insecure children across Iowa” that provide healthy meals with nutritional standards, said Mason Mauro, Reynolds’ deputy communications director.

“We received the Iowa Hunger Coalition’s petition,” Mauro said. “We continue discussing our options with the Summer EBT program looking ahead to the August 15 deadline.”

Luke Elzinga, board chair of the Iowa Hunger Coalition, said the daily average participation at summer meal sites in Iowa in 2023 was 21,557, compared with more than 245,000 Iowa children who qualify for free- and reduced-price school meals that would have received the $40 per month from the federal program, also known as SUN Bucks.

“It’s past time for Gov. Reynolds to put national partisan politics aside and do what’s right for Iowa,” Elzinga said in a statement. “ … Nobody should be willing to accept another summer where hundreds of thousands of low-income kids in our state miss out on Summer EBT.”

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Heightened food insecurity in Iowa has put growing pressure and strain on food banks and pantries across the state. Food banks, food pantries and other anti-hunger organizations continue to see record-breaking numbers of Iowans seeking assistance.

Over the last three years, for instance, the North Liberty Community Pantry has witnessed a 70 percent increase in the number of families needing assistance putting food on the table.

“And they are visiting more than twice as frequently as they used to,” food pantry Executive Director Ryan Bobst told The Gazette last month. “This year we will surpass serving 3,000 unique people for the first time in our nearly 40-year history. Each month that goes by, we continue to set new distribution and service records."

Not only are families battling inflation and increased costs of basic goods and housing, but they also have less access to resources to meet their daily basic needs, Bobst said.

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Nicole McAlexander, executive director of Southeast Linn Community Center and vice chair of the Iowa Hunger Coalition board, said this summer “has been absolutely relentless” across the state for families seeking help with food.

And just like families, Iowa food banks, pantries and meal centers are facing difficult financial decisions, “and staff and volunteers are being pushed to the limit to make sure the need is met,” McAlexander said.

Parents, grandparents and other concerned residents who signed the petition also pointed out barriers to accessing summer meal sites, especially in rural areas.

“While summer feeding programs have their place, they are not accessible to all Iowa families,” state Sen. Sarah Trone Garriott, D-West Des Moines, said in a statement responding to the grant funding for summer meal sites. “Families must bring their children to and from the site every day, which is impossible for most working families. There are many Iowa school districts and entire counties that don’t even have a feeding site. … The governor could have expanded these programs and participated in the Summer EBT program.”

Petition signers also touted the link between Summer EBT and the ability for families to afford more nutritious food choices. Others highlighted the importance of nutrition for children’s development, and the benefit to local communities.

A Cedar County farmer, who signed the petition, noted customers at a farmers market can use EBT and receive Double Up Food Bucks when they purchase his produce.

Elzinga said regardless of whether the state submits an interim plan by the deadline, “we will keep fighting until Iowa participates in Summer EBT.”

Iowa Statehouse Democrats this year introduced legislation requiring the state of Iowa to participate in the Summer EBT program, but were blocked by Republicans.

Comments: (319) 398-8499; tom.barton@thegazette.com